Miami Student

Issue date: 10/5/04 Section: OpEd Page

It turns out George W. Bush is a uniter. He's united the notoriously finicky Democrats. He's united most of the world's countries against the United States. He's even united musical acts as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Jurassic 5, and the Dixie Chicks into a tour busy barnstorming through the swing states in the month before the election.The tour, called "Vote for Change" presumably because the "Bush is a Neo-Conservative Tool Bag with a View of the World Only Slightly More Oversimplified than the Plot of a Vin Diesel Movie" tour would be difficult to fit on the back of a T-shirt, kicked off this week in Ohio.The heart and soul of the tour, Springsteen, opened in Cleveland on Oct. 2, coincidentally my 21st birthday, further proving that no matter what the born-again Christians say, God loves my sinning, fornicating, gay-marriage loving ass.Accompanying Springsteen and the legendary E Street Band were John Fogerty, REM, and Bright Eyes. Throwing Bright Eyes in with this group was the equivalent of having Randy, the Dookersville, Iowa county treasurer, open for John Kennedy and FDR, but other than that the concert was incredible. REM performed staples like "Losing My Religion" while Michael Stipe employed his signature dance style that calls to mind seizure victims finding the power of Christ and speaking in tongues. Of course, most of the crowd was there to see Springsteen, and he didn't disappoint, earning standing ovations after nearly every song.After he implored the crowd to get their progressive votes out come Election Day, I overheard a conversation between two Springsteen-loving Republicans behind me, one of who commented, "I wish he hadn't turned into such a bleeding heart."I have bad news for that cat: the Boss has always been a bleeding heart. He is the musical legacy of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. He's been telling the stories of the disaffected, the minority, and the voiceless for his entire career.This raises the question, why are artistic people - musicians, actors, writers, etc. - so overwhelmingly liberal? Why is it the best the Republicans can offer is some lackluster support from that bastion of informed opinion, Britney Spears? I would say it's because to do any of those things well - act, write, whatever - you have to be willing and able to disconnect from your own life, especially if it is a life of comfort and privilege, and take a walk in somebody else's shoes.You have to re-imagine yourself as a laid-off worker picking up a job at McDonald's where you have an uncomfortable moment when your old high school girlfriend comes by the drive-through window in a Lexus. Or as the woman sitting in the lobby of a hospital while the love of her life verges on death because the state in which she lives does not honor the vows of marriage taken between two women. Or the terrified 18-year-old kid swinging his rifle back and forth through a Baghdad plaza, trying to tell the enemy from the innocent and wondering in his sick, frightened heart what brought him to this place and moment.Somehow I can't picture Britney lying awake at night thinking about such scenarios.

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